TONETIPSFROMTHEROAD
The B-Rig
In addition to my “Big Rig” – the Bradshaw
rack/pedalboard system I use on tour – I
have a much smaller board that I use for
acoustic shows and gigs where we rent back-line when our own gear is not available. This
board has settled in with some cool pedals,
so I thought I’d show it off this month. I’ll
cover them in the order of the signal path.
guitar to a sparkling, chimey, single coil
tone, which it does in a very cool way. It
can also go the opposite direction and
boost overall tone – mids, chimey highs
and enhanced lows – as a lead boost, which
is how I use it. It also works great with an
acoustic guitar. If you use an EQ stompbox
to boost your leads, you should definitely
check this one out.
features of the original: the ability to stop
the flanger’s modulation speed to create a
ring modulator effect, although, unlike the
original, it’s dead quiet. A must have.
Boss TU- 2 Chromatic
Tuner – The ol’ standby, a pedal version of
the TU- 12, features
the well-known buffer
circuit in bypass mode,
making it a good
choice for first in line
to keep your signal
strong throughout
your pedal chain.
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus – Our guitar tech’s favorite to power our pedalboards.
A versatile power supply that easily covers
your Boss pedals, various other 9 and 12V
pedals and those finicky Line 6 blue and
green box modeler
pedals that require
isolated 9V A/C. The
Pedal Power can also
cover 18 and 24V
requirements with
their custom cables.
Line 6 ToneCore
Constrictor – This
pedal has three differ-
ent modeled compres-
sor tones: Compact,
one of those red box
Dynos from the sev-
enties; Squeeze, an
eighties CS- 1 blue box
thingy; and Mellow,
rumored to be mod-
eled after the old LA2A studio compressors.
I’m not sure if it’s true, but it’s the smoothest
setting I’ve found in a stompbox compressor
and it is indeed “mellow” enough to work
beautifully with an acoustic guitar’s trans-
ducer bridge pickup. In addition, it’s great
with 12-string electrics. I also use this quite a
bit in the studio.
The B-Rig, as captured by an iPhone
Voodoo Lab Amp
Selector – A versatile
amp switcher with a
buffer and isolated
outputs for strong
signal and hum elimination when stringing
two or more amps.
This allows switching
variations of A/B or
“combined” amp signals. I use it to switch
between two amps
and a D.I. for the acoustic.
Ernie Ball Volume Pedal – An industry
standard. I use this for my slide guitar and
for riding my acoustic guitar level during a
performance.
Line 6 ToneCore Echo Park – A stompbox
version of a delay modeler. The Echo Park
delivers good delay tone, allows tempo tapping and has a knob for quickly jumping
between various delay patterns in the tempo
you’ve selected. The combined function on/
off and tempo-tap switch gets a little tricky
to jump between – stomp hard for bypass,
step lightly for tap-tempo chores – but you
get the hang of it.
Pedaltrain Pedalboard – Ah yes, we can’t
forget the board itself. This ingenious metal
frame and Velcro combination allows quick
build times as well as the ability to easily
reconfigure pedals on the fly. Plus, it comes
with its own road case. I own two different sizes, the other being my larger, USS
Enterprise-sized studio pedalboard. They’re
quickly becoming the industry standard.
Electro-Harmonix Stereo Electric Mistress
– Instead of being a re-creation of the original Electric Mistress, they’ve come out with
an incredible sounding and functional new
version that offers chorus or flange effects
– or a combination of both – ranging from
very subtle to extreme. Simple controls are
great for easy-to-dial-on-the-fly, rich, wide
tones. Thankfully, they kept one of the cool
Until next time… rawk on!
Electro-Harmonix Knockout – Another new
one from what I refer to as the “Bohemian
Pedal Lab” – EH. They continue to design
some of the coolest pedals at a time when
you think it’s all been done. The Knockout is
designed to take your humbucker-equipped
Peter Stroud
is co-founder of 65amps
sherylcrow.com
65amps.com
